Bouwmeester has always been reserved. I think the lack of emotion being used against him is overblown. You don't play 25 minutes per night in the NHL for years without having urgency. Nick Lidstrom avoided contact too. That's just how Bouwmeester plays the game. He's a reliable, puck-moving d-man on a bad contract. I think he's worth the risk for the right price.

Calgary had lost in the first round four consecutive seasons before Bouwmeester's arrival. The inability to retool was in place already. It just continued on in Bouwmeester's time there since. I don't know how Bouwmeester is supposed to control poor management decisions.

I don't think the connection between Bouwmeester and his teams missing the playoffs is really fair at all. He has played for Florida and a Calgary run franchise that has no plan besides to linger in mediocrity.

You have to take other team's fan boards into account. Fans are emotional and go with the good/bad at the moment of their respective team.

For example, casual readers from other sites would likely assume we hate everyone on the team besides Datsyuk, Z (most of the time) and Howard (some of the time). Obviously that isn't the case, but I don't know how much stock you can put into reactionary opinions about a player such as Murray.

Don't have the skill anymore to compensate for poor defensive coverage and atrocious special teams play. I think the Red Wings have done some good things through two periods, but far too many mistakes and some awful luck with the officiating.

Our top-six needs a ton of help and I don't mean Bertuzzi and/or Samuelsson coming back.